紐時賞析／耶魯報告稱高教危機咎由自取

耶魯大學並不在美國總統川普的修理名單上，校長仍責成小組研究高教問題根源。（紐約時報）

Yale Study Finds Colleges Deserve Blame for Woes

耶魯報告稱高教危機咎由自取

U.S. colleges and universities bear significant responsibility for plunging public trust in higher education, a Yale University committee suggested in a report released Wednesday.

耶魯大學一個委員會在週三發佈的報告指出，美國大專院校對社會對高等教育信任度下滑負有相當責任。

High costs, murky admissions practices, uneven academic standards and fears about free speech on campuses, the committee said, are among the reasons for widening discontent over higher education’s worthiness.

委員會指出，高學費、不透明的招生制度、學術標準參差不齊，及對校園言論自由的疑懼，是社會對高教價值不滿持續擴大主要原因。

The findings reflect misgivings that Americans have described across years of polling and interviews. But the report, from a 10-professor panel at one of the nation’s most renowned universities, amounts to a damning depiction of academia’s role in cultivating the political and cultural forces that are reshaping higher education’s place in American life.

這些發現反映出美國民衆在多年民調與訪談中持續表達的疑慮。然而，這份全美知名學府十位教授組成的委員會報告，對學界在形塑當前政治與文化力量的角色嚴厲批判，認爲其正改變高等教育在美國社會中的定位。

“Trust is earned by doing what you say you’re going to do — and, ideally, doing it well,” the committee wrote, describing “widespread uncertainty about the fundamental purpose and mission of higher education.”

報告指出：「信任來自言出必行，最好是能確實做好。」並形容社會對高等教育的根本目的與使命出現「廣泛的不確定感」。

Most U.S. schools are far removed from places such as Yale, where the estimated annual cost of attendance for undergraduates exceeds $90,000 before financial aid. Administrators at many institutions, most of which cost far less and admit far more students, complain that their schools are unfairly tied to selective universities.

多數美國大學與耶魯這樣的頂大相去甚遠；在耶魯，本科生每年就學總成本，未扣除助學金前超過9萬美元。許多學費較低、招生規模較大的學校管理者抱怨，外界將他們與菁英大學混爲一談，並不公平。

But those broad perceptions are driving debates about academic offerings, taxpayer support for universities, and President Donald Trump’s attacks on a higher education system that predates the nation itself.

但這些普遍觀感已在美國引發連串爭論，包括大學課程內容、公帑補助的正當性及川普對高教體系的批評。

Friction around colleges is not new. The committee, though, pointed to a congruence of contemporary practices to help explain why academia’s standing has declined so far, so fast. Gallup reported last September that 35% of Americans regarded a college education as “very important” — half the number who thought that in 2013.

社會對大學的不滿與爭議並非新鮮事。不過，該委員會指出，該委員會指出，多項現行做法交織在一起，正是學界地位迅速下滑的原因之一。民調機構蓋洛普去年9月的調查顯示，僅35%的美國人認爲大學教育「非常重要」，爲2013年的一半。

In its report, commissioned last April, the Yale panel extolled the aims of higher education, but was unsparing in suggesting how schools, including Yale, had harmed public views of it.

在這份去年4月委託撰寫的報告中，耶魯小組一方面高度肯定高等教育的宗旨，但同時也毫不留情地指出，包括耶魯在內的各大學，如何在不知不覺中損害了外界對高教體系的觀感。

For example, Yale and many other schools now rely on a model that regularly dilutes high tuition prices with generous aid packages. Although many students pay nowhere near sticker prices, the committee wrote that the approach had exacted “a disastrous impact on public trust.”

例如，耶魯與許多大學如今採用一種模式，以高額學費爲標價，再透過慷慨的助學金加以稀釋。儘管不少學生實際支付的金額遠低於標價，委員會指出，這種做法已嚴重侵蝕公衆信任。

Undergraduate admissions procedures are often opaque, the committee added.

委員會補充指出，大學招生程序往往不夠透明。

The committee offered dozens of recommendations, including expanding financial aid, reducing admissions preferences, zealously protecting free speech and adjusting grading policies.

報告提出數十項建議，包括擴大助學金、降低入學優惠、積極保障言論自由，以及調整評分制度。

文／Alan Blinder，譯／國際中心

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